I'll take a wild guess and say that the Levinson is the problem and that it goes for the "refined" sound. Unfortunately, often refined is boring. People listen for different things in audio. Look at Krell some people rave about their gear others, to paraphrase one audiophile, "don't ever expect what comes out of a Krell to sound like music".
I once auditioned a very well set up Rotel and B&W system that had the characteristics you describe. At first it was wow, great detail and sound stage but after awhile I realized that here I was listening to some of my favorite music and my foot was still. That is not natural for me. There was no engagement. That was an eye (ear?) opener. Go with your musical soul, not what people tell you. If you are falling asleep there is something wrong. Try a relatively cheap experiment. Run the transport into the Denon, assuming it has digital inputs. If not pick up a Behringer SRC2496 for about $130. The DAC in that is surprizingly good. I have done A/B tests against my Monarchy Audio and it held its own. The Monarchy is no slouch either, my foot is always tapping.
I once auditioned a very well set up Rotel and B&W system that had the characteristics you describe. At first it was wow, great detail and sound stage but after awhile I realized that here I was listening to some of my favorite music and my foot was still. That is not natural for me. There was no engagement. That was an eye (ear?) opener. Go with your musical soul, not what people tell you. If you are falling asleep there is something wrong. Try a relatively cheap experiment. Run the transport into the Denon, assuming it has digital inputs. If not pick up a Behringer SRC2496 for about $130. The DAC in that is surprizingly good. I have done A/B tests against my Monarchy Audio and it held its own. The Monarchy is no slouch either, my foot is always tapping.